The Institute is Waiting. I'll Be There to Meet You.
HELL IS WAITING. I’LL BE THERE TO MEET YOU.
I've been a constant reader since I was eleven years old. 19 years of my life spent reading everything Stephen King has ever written. And in those 19 years, my favorite days have always been the day a new King book is released. It’s fascinating to me that it’s been this long and it still feels like Christmas day every time I walk into that bookstore and pick up the latest story.
The Institute was released on September 10th and when I landed in Calgary, my Mom drove me to the bookstore to pick up my copy. I spent my entire week vacation spending time with my family and in between devouring this new story. And it felt fitting. Because Stephen King has always been apart of our family, ever since I was child. In his stories I found myself over and over, accepted my weirdness, learned to be an adult, learned to be a good friend, and learned to handle my fears. Well...okay...I might still be working on that last one. But this was the first time I got to read a child led King story as an adult and it was a really interesting experience.
This will have spoilers for the full story so dive in, if you dare.
We follow two main characters - one man named Tim Jamieson who one day makes a choice on a flight that leads him to a small town. And one 12 year old boy named Luke Ellis who has his choices taken away from him when he’s kidnapped from his home and placed at the institute.
There are a few things I want to touch on in this review - the first being the nod to Firestarter. Obviously, these kids are in a similar institute and have telekinesis and telepathic powers. They could start fires if they tried really hard, but mostly they move empty candy wrappers and can read people’s most blaring thoughts. I’ve seen a few complaints about the similarities but I don’t feel the same. King has always self referenced, hell there’s a Shining reference and an IT reference in this one too. But this book didn’t feel like a carbon copy or too much of a nod to that little girl who could start fires. It’s its own terrifying tale.
Let’s talk about the themes that King is working with this time around. He’s always heavy on the themes which makes his writing so poignant and long lasting. The most obvious theme here is people in power taking advantage. These kids are kidnapped from their home, their families murdered, and they are told what to do, no questions asked. Obviously, the abuse of power in this story is horrible. The kids are forced to do tests, take shots, and pushed to the brink of death. Everything is covered up by a higher power.
King has always been good at creating baddies and this book is no exception. Mrs. Sigsby is a piece of work, Stackhouse not far behind, and Gladys is certainly slap happy. Then of course there’s Jeckle and Heckle - two terrifying doctors working the back half. Obviously, King is alluding to concentration camps and the Nazi doctors, Luke even makes those same references. But I think it’s terrifying how much a lot of this applies to 2019’s climate with the camps on America’s border filled with immigrants locked up in tiny rooms. King is great at pointing out that nothing really changes. The world is a terribly cruel place with leaders that are terrifying cruel people. He’s also great at writing about the spiral of insanity. Jeckle and Heckle are a great example of that - their minds have slowly deteriorated by working the Back Half turning them into these unhinged creatures. Stackhouse by the end of the novel is so desperate and his mind so damaged that when he’s faced with Mrs. Sigsby being shot, he didn’t even flinch.
A character that hits both sides of the villain and hero coin is Maureen. Maureen is an important character in all this - and I couldn’t help thinking of her in this 2019 culture. How would the internet react to her? She did terrible things by simply being compliant in the institute, and before the institute she was involved in “enhanced interrogation”. She speaks to being desensitized during the torture, but when it came to the kids something changed. “They’re just kids, you know, and kids want to trust a grownup who’s kind and sympathetic.” Can we forgive people for their past? Can we forgive people who were involved in horrible situations and just followed orders? Do people really change? It’s something to think about. But as Maureen herself says, “But maybe I would have kept on with it, anyway. If I’m going to be honest - and it’s too late to be anything else - I guess I probably would have.” It’s a fascinating thing to look at.
Another interesting thing I noticed in this story was when Maureen secretly filmed the back half of the back half aka Ward A aka Gorky Park. It reminded me of when Bill Baldini famously ran that five episode expose of Pennhurst State School and Hospital in the 60’s. His footage showed horrific real life images of inmates either mentally or physically ill wandering around hitting their heads against walls, naked, covered in filth. And at the time it was hard to believe even though we were seeing the real life footage. And when Baldini asked one of the patients what he wanted most in the world, the patient responded sadly, “to get out of Pennhurst.”
I think that was a great addition. We are shown daily horrific images of terrible things going on in the world, and we’ve all become really cynical and desensitized. When we see this kind of footage our first thoughts are either, thank God that’s not me, or that must be fake. And when the police officers are shown the video footage in DuPray their first reaction is disbelief.
On the positive side of things - as much as this book dealt with some really sensitive issues, it also presents a strong sense of hope. As King says 9 pages in, “Great events turn on small hinges.” Tim makes a series of random decisions that lead him to be in the path of Luke Ellis and help him save his friends. It’s a fun thing to think about - is your life determined by a series of random events? Is a greater power forcing your hand? Is it karma? Fate? This story touches on all of those points, ultimately leaving it up to you as the reader to make your decision.
The friendships and the bonds between the children is really incredible. King has always written children well and this one is once again, no exception. But because of the perilous situation these kids are placed in, it’s really heartwarming to read about the bonds being built. And when we hit the climax of the story, it’s the children all banding together, across the entire world, that saves Luke and his friends and ultimately shuts down the entire institute. “The revolt was not just here; the revolt was global.” That’s a beautiful quote and I think it’s something we can all remind ourselves of in 2019.
When we hit the finale of the book we are plagued with the question of do we destroy the village to save it. A question that has been ultimately asked since the beginning of time, do we sacrifice a few to save a lot? How many lives are worth saving billions more. It seems like a simple morality question and yet politicians and leaders have used and abused that statement for centuries. “He doesn’t get it either...but he can’t bear to think that all the killing they’ve done has been for no good reason. None of them can.” Luke says. The institute has been killing thousands of kids since the 50’s to save billions of people, and that’s how they justify it. But at what point does the justification just become something you say to yourself to sleep at night. It’s a fascinating take on this life long question and what I love about King is that he doesn’t shove this down your throat. He ultimately leaves it up to you to decide - was the institute right in doing what it did if it indeed has saved the world over and over?
The Institute is filled with a lot of political and moral questions. It’s also filled with psychic kids, bad guys, and amazing characters. For me it’s a solid 5/5 and a great addition to King’s world. Sure, it has its flaws - but nothing to me that ruined the experience. Did the kids act a little too old? Have a few outdated references? Sure. But the guy’s 71 years old, so let’s cut him some slack when it comes to 2019 kid pop culture.
Ultimately, it’s a beautiful heartbreaking story of adults taking advantage of children and children finally standing up and saying FUCK YOU.
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